Favorite Screenwriters: The Wisdom of Nora Ephron

I went to hear Nora Ephron last week. She is funny, as you'd expect from the writer of When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail and the upcoming Julie & Julia and terrific on the subject of age and balancing kids and life...the "stuff that interests you in this room," she said to the dozens of women drawing on her every word, "but that is of absolutely no interest to the guys outside."

But she had little patience for victimhood, the sort of "tell us how hard it is for women writer/directors" questions. She just shrugged. It's hard for anybody to get a movie made, she said...but then conceded that yeah, maybe it was a little tougher for women, but so what? Tough cookies. This is the job you signed up for.

She told a lot of great stories, many of them anecdotes relating to directing rather than writing, but I enjoyed the focus because I've decided I want to direct the little personal movie I'm writing now. My favorite part was when someone asked a question about conquering fears and she just gave the smallest sigh. She couldn't speak much to fear, not being familiar with it too much (and I believed her), but she did note that everyone in Hollywood is afraid. She said when the titles come up at the very opening of a movie and it has the studio's logo, she'd add underneath "20th Century Fox did everything in its power not to make this movie." People are afraid of making bad decisions, greenlighting flops, losing money. Far easier to sit on your butt, drink Diet Coke from your personal fridge, putter around your projection room and say no all day.

Your job, then, brave director is to be the bravest one in the room...to continually have the confidence and skill and knowledge to convince the cowardly that this "risk" is the closest thing to a sure shot. Storyboard. Shotlist. Crew up with the best. Overprepare. Be confident.

This bravery isn't limited to directing, though. It's a part of producing as well...that element of building something solid enough that others feel comfortable, that the movie that screens at the end seems like the result of a most natural evolution. And yes, it is the worst possible time financially to be out here doing what we're doing but if it was easy, everyone would do it.

Onward.